Features

32 bit CPU at 33.8MHz
360 thousand polygons per second
2 MB main RAM slot
1 MB video RAM slot
24 channel 44.1 KHz sound
2X CD-ROM
CD-ROM 74 min (650 MB) and 80 min (700 MB) compatible
JPG-like data compression engine
huge selection of games!

Thus dids't the Playstation come forth from the dark alleys of Tokyo... In it's time, this was one serious gaming machine. SNES, Megadrive, 32X, Jaguar and 3DO all paled beside this monster. The PSX has 5 processors running concurrently, similar to the Atari Jaguar. Then main processor is the powerful LSI R3000A 32 bit RISC processor (licensed from SGI), running at 33.8 Mhz. In addition to it, there is a 66 MIPS High-speed Matrix Processor for calculating 3D polygons, there is a graphics processor for displaying sprites (2D) at 60 frames a second, a sound processor for doing CD quality sound and a 80 MIPS Data Expansion Engine for decompressing graphics and sound data from the CD-ROM.

What did it all mean? Well, this machine was built for 3D! And since that is where the games were going, we were all set! (In all fairness it should be mentioned that the Sega Saturn was on par with, if not better than, the PSX on 2D scrolling games, note 2D only. However, this was not a problem since these machines were lightyears ahead of the competition anyway!)

Even though this sytem is quite old (it was released September 9th 1995), I would still have to say that it is one of the most popular systems out there, and my personal favorite. It has a huge selection of classic games, and although the PS2 has been released, PSX games are still coming out at a good clip!